64 prompts
by SilverSmile
Summary: 64 one-shots to do with the famous ninja turtles!
1. 1 2am

So I'm trying something new and having been looking around for some kind of prompts to help me as of late as the plot bunnies just don't want to come and help me out here! (evil bunnies that they are)

I've found this 64 prompt 'thing' on LJ and have decided that, as a challenge to myself, I'm going to write a one-shot for all 64! To make it easy to understand this is how the title will be written - Number prompt. Word. i.e (1. 2am.)

So here's the first one, hope you read, review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: turtles and rat are not mine

Abby

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1. **2 am.**

After seventeen years it was still his youngest brother's voice that pulled him roughly from his peaceful sleep. Honey brown eyes snapped open at the sound of an anguished scream that shattered the previous quiet of the lair. Quickly pulling himself out from the cocoon his blue blankets provided he made his way out of his room, not before glancing at his bedside clock that showed the time 2:00am glaring back at him in a striking red light.

Without further ado he moved silently and quickly through the lair as years of ninja training had taught him. He didn't stop moving until he reached his brothers door and pushed it aside without a second thought, vaguely registering that he was the first on the scene.

The sight before him was a familiar one. His baby brother was sitting up in bed; shocked out of his continuous screaming by Leo's sudden opening of the door. His body was drenched with sweat and he was noticeably shaking as he held a death grip on his faded orange blankets.

Without even sparing a glance at the messy room his brother lived in, Leo moved quickly and with practiced ease through the maze of objects and over to his trembling sibling, his big blue eyes were shinning with tears that threatened to spill over as they watched Leo with an unbelievable look on his face, like he almost couldn't believe that it really was his eldest brother walking over to him.

Without a second thought Leo enveloped his baby brother in a comforting and protective hug that caused the sobs and whimpers that had yet to come forth from his brother to show themselves as he felt two shaking hands let go of the blankets and clamp onto his arm and the top lip of his plastron.

"Shh Mikey, it's all ok now." He whispered to the younger turtle as he carefully pushed him over so that he could also sit upon the bed, the boy in his arms moving so he was draped over his big brother like a personal blanket.

Sudden heavy breathing alerted Leo to the audience of three that were now standing at the entrance of the youngest member of the family's room. Raph was bent over double; apparently having been quite worried about the sudden screaming and then it suddenly stopping. Donnie stood there, eyes bright with worry and slight fear at the possibilities of what had happened with their father next to him, calm as always, though the grip on his walking stick was unusually tight.

Without a word Don smiled at seeing Mikey being comforted in Leo's arms before turning and leaving, planning on returning to bed as it was only two in the morning. Raph let out a small grunt before turning and leaving as well through from the sound of it he didn't return to bed right away but went into the kitchen, probably for a glass of water. Their father just smiled slightly and gave a nod before turning and leaving too.

This left Leo to comfort the distraught turtle in his arms as the remainder of his family left them in the dark room. Shifting slightly, Leo managed to move Mikey so that he was holding him more firmly before he began to speak once more.

"Mikey, shh, it's ok now…" He gently crooned to him, hoping to calm him down somewhat. Ten minutes passed and found the two turtles sitting in relative quiet, the occasional hiccupped sob coming from the younger as the elder simply held him tightly and made the occasional soothing sound.

When even those sounds had died down Leo let out a sigh of his own.

"So… do you want to tell me what's wrong?" He asked gently. The grip his brother had on him tightened considerably.

"N-no, I don't wanna talk about i-it." Mikey rasped out, sniffing pathetically. He knew that had Leo been any one of his other two brothers that simple statement would generate a very different reaction. While Raph would probably yell at him angrily for not telling him what was scaring him so much and Donnie would sigh and explain that in order to find the root of what was probably an irrational fear they needed to talk about it; Leo simply nodded his head, understanding that there where some demons that you just couldn't bring yourself to speak of.

"Just stay with me, 'k Leo?" He asked, not even caring that he now sounded like he was five-years-old once more.

"Sure Mikey." Leo said, leaning back in the bed and allowing his little brother to curl around him like he was the only source of heat in a freezing room. Gently Leo rubbed comforting circles on his brothers shell, something he always did after Mikey had a nightmare and couldn't calm down enough to fall back to sleep.

"I'll stay for as long as you want." He whispered.

"Love you Leo." Mikey said as his eyes began drooping, the fears and flash backs of the awful dream already beginning to fade as he was comforted by his big brothers presence.

"I love you too, Mikey." Leo smiled softly, relaxing as his baby brother did, knowing that another sleepless night had been avoided. With one last glance around the room he noticed that a clock not unlike his was located on one of the shelves in the room, the familiar glaring red digits glared at him displaying 2:14am.

As the red digits flicked over to 2:15am Leo closed his eyes, knowing that his presence with his baby brother would be enough to prevent any further bad dreams that night.

So hope you all enjoy it! Please r&r!!


	2. 2 Metaphor

So here's the second installment. I will admit I'm not entirely thrilled with how this one came out and I did have a lot of difficulty with trying to think up something for this one. Oh well, hope you all enjoy.

Abby

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2. Metaphor

It was just another normal day at the lair. Leo and Raph had already had an argument over who had drunk the last of the milk and then oh so intelligently placed the milk carton back in the fridge and now Raph was beating his punching bag while Leo and Master Splinter meditated in his room. Mikey had spent the day so far watching cartoons on the TV while Donnie had been tinkering around in his lab, inventing something.

However, like every day in the lair, something was about to disturb the relative peace that had befallen their home. That disturbance came in the form of Mikey appearing in Donnie's lab and disturbing him.

"Donnie, what's a metaphor?" Mikey asked with childlike curiosity.

Don turned a blank look to his little brother as he looked up at him from his invention, as if he was wondering if the younger boy was actually truthfully asking the question. When Mikey continued to sit and stare patiently at his immediate older brother, Don released a long suffering sigh.

"Metaphor Mikey; is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. In the simplest case, this takes the form: 'The (first subject) is a (second subject).' More generally, a metaphor is a rhetorical trope that describes a first subject as being or equal to a second subject in some way. Thus, the first subject can be economically described because implicit and explicit attributes from the second subject are used to enhance the description of the first. This device is known for usage in literature, especially in poetry, where with few words, emotions and associations from one context are associated with objects and entities in a different context." Don said intelligently.

The look on his younger brothers' face was one of complete and utter confusion; clearly he had not understood a word of what his braniac older brother had just said. For all intents and purposes he could have been speaking another language.

"So, uh… what exactly is a metaphor?" He asked slowly, as though by talking slower himself it might cause his brother to start making sense.

"Mikey! I just told you!" Don sighed, feeling slightly exasperated.

"Yeah you told me in techno babble, now tell me in simple English." Mikey said defensively.

"A metaphor is… when you say something is like something else, but the two subjects really have nothing to do with each other." Donnie tried to put it simply for his confused sibling.

"Right… No, I still don't get it." Orange shook his head.

"It's like… Raph is always using colourful language. The words he uses aren't actually colourful because they're words, you can't physically see them. Or when someone says they're having a blue day. The day's not really the colour blue; it's a day, a passing of time, not something physical once again." Donnie tried again; hoping examples would aid the still blank looking turtle before him.

"Donnie, I still don't get it." He sighed, his voice beginning to take on the dreaded whiney tone it got when he was getting fed up with something.

"What about a shady character. The persons not actually shady, are they?"

"No…"

"See, that's a metaphor!" Don said successfully.

Silence greeted his words as his brother appeared to be in deep thought about it, pondering the meanings behind the words. Mikey stood that way for too long that Don turned back to his work. Just as he was about to continue Mikey let out an overdramatic sigh.

"I still don't get it Donnie… Sometimes I really fail to see your logic."

With that he turned and walked calmly out of his brothers' lab, not seeming to be bothered by the disbelieving noises his brother made as he, quiet intentionally, used a metaphor with ease.

"MIKEY!"

Yes, it was just another normal day at the lair as Don abandoned his work in favor of chasing down his extremely annoying little brother.


	3. 3 Sky

The thrid one.

I really enjoyed writting this one despite it's shot length; I think it looks at Mikey's character is a very different way that most people don't seem to write about all that much. Hope you enjoy it as much as I liked writing it!

Abby

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3. Sky

Mikey had always loved the sky. As he had grown up in the sewer tunnels of New York City he had seen the sky only a precious few times when he had been young. When they had gotten the TV working, well when Don had gotten the TV working, he had been able to see the sky more often then, but nothing was better than seeing the sky with his own two eyes. He could remember sitting under grates for hours on end, just staring up at the little bit of sky he could see. It had been fairly risky, granted anyone could have seen him just sitting there in broad daylight, but he honestly believed that every second he had spent sitting there had been more than worth it.

Every time his brothers and he went top side either to patrol or just to visit April and Casey, he always found his eyes drawn to the stars that could be faintly seen in the sky, or on the rare occasion they set out in daylight, he found himself unable to look away from the blueness of the sky. His favorite time of day would have to be sunrise and sunset. How the sky would turn such incredible colours, but only for a few minutes each day. It was fascinating.

Though when he said it was fascinating, he didn't mean it like Donnie would. He had no interest in researching the many different reasons behind how such a phenomenon occurred, he was quite content just marveling at the beauty of it all thank you!

Raph would just laugh if Mikey told him what he thought about the sky. He was aware that such things were lost on his hotheaded brother.

He could tell Leo, but he knew that it would be almost painful to watch his reliable eldest brother try to understand why he was so attracted to the sky. It was better for the both of them if Leo never knew about it either.

To Mikey the sky represented everything he had ever wanted in life. It was open with everything, it held no secrets and it felt no need to hide behind anything. It had the playful clouds to befriend and it could go any and everywhere, no one was scared of it or feared that it might hurt them. The sky was freedom.

It didn't live in the shadows, it didn't have to be careful who it talked to, it wasn't cooped up in one spot for its own safety and it didn't have any reason to ever be sad…

Mikey had always loved the sky. The sky was freedom. The only thing the sky didn't have that he did was a family, and sometimes Mikey wondered if the sky had once again gotten the better deal…


	4. 4 Lost Scene

The next installment in my little series. I think this one is fairly interesting to think about. Sorry about the shortness, I'll try to lengthen the next one.

Disclaimer: I don't own the turtles.

Review and enjoy!

Abby

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4. Lost scene

Sometimes Don viewed their lives like some kind of twisted TV show. A reality show where the director had the ability to cut scenes out and manipulate the events that occurred. They were like puppets on a string that, when the puppeteer got tired of them, could be cut and they would be no more.

The more he thought about it the more he categorized all the people he met and what their roles in the show would be.

Obviously Leonardo was the eldest brother and the leader of their group. He was protective, loyal and lived and breathed his family and ninjitsu. He was one of the four most important characters of the show, though that also left him open to so many episodes where he was pushed to the brink of what he could stand. He was hurt both physically and mentally in order to test how strong he was, but then the moment the director realized that Leo was starting to show some signs of wear and tear he put him away for a while and played around with the rest of the characters until Leo was fixed once again.

Then there was Raphael; the second eldest and the one labeled as a hot head. With his always temperamental mannerisms he could have easily become a least favorite character and been disposed of, however due to how loyal and protective he could be when they were in trouble he was easily favored as misunderstood. For these two reasons and his lack of restraint when expressing his opinion, he could become quite the popular character with viewers. The director seemed to enjoy toying with his emotions, continually keeping him in a limbo of ignoring the emotions and full out acting rashly on them.

Donatello easily categorized himself as the techno geek of the family and the resident doctor. He was supposed to be the voice of reason in the mixed up family, a calming force in stark contrast to his immediate older brother. His personality traits were of compassion and calmness. He wasn't supposed to be particularly good at fighting as that was what Raph and Leo were known for; he was to use his brains to help them out. The director left him mostly to himself, showing little interest in making him out to be anything particularly important, only when all else fails or there's a new invention that needs to be used was he really pulled into the lime-light. Not that he was complaining; it wasn't in his nature to want all that attention.

Michealangelo was the easiest of all the characters in this show to categorize, he was the comic relief. He was never allowed to be sad or disappointed, they weren't warm emotions. Even when the youngest was scared he was still manipulated into being amusing through his dialect or even his scream being girly. With his overdramatic personality and ability to shrug things off he was the perfect way to defuse tense scenes or make awful things seem less terrible. The director had needed someone to appear completely innocent of everything bad in the world and thus, Mikey was born.

Their father, Splinter, was the directors' way of communicating with the four turtle brothers. Splinter was the one who set the boundaries, the one who controlled what they did and didn't venture into, the one who controlled their lives in essence. Considering how much of a major role the aged rat played in their lives, he probably wouldn't have that many scenes as he was exactly that, ageing. The director was truly cleaver putting him as only having the occasional scene; he didn't need to worry about him doing anything unexpected then.

April and Casey were the do-gooders of the human race. As most of the enemies the turtles found themselves facing were human the director needed to have some kind of example of what 'good' humans looked like. Also by having an element of romance between the two humans, he was sure, offered a wider audience for their show to appeal to.

Then there were people like the Shredder, the ultimate bad guy who the turtles, the heroes, dedicated their lives to trying to defeat. It was all so plainly laid out.

Sometimes Don viewed their lives like some kind of twisted TV show. A reality show where the director had the ability to cut scenes out and manipulate the events that occurred. They were like puppets on a string that, when the puppeteer got tired of them, could be cut and they would be no more.

The question that Don wanted answered though, was how much of their life, how many treasured memories of theirs, didn't make it into the final cut. How many events did the director deem worthless, but if they were asked, they wouldn't change for the world. How many scenes were lost?

Sometime, Donnie hated the director; because if he didn't, he'd be forced to admit that their lives were really this hard and that thought alone was just too painful.

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Please Review!!


	5. 5 Degrees

5

5. Degrees

The kitchen had always been a source of much activity in the lives of the four mutant turtles living under New York City. It was one of the two places that everyone gathered in at the same time. Even if it was only in passing for a moment each day, they were all in the room together and, normally, in a civil manner. The four brothers had long since worked out the ins and outs of who should, and who shouldn't, be allowed access to cooking utensils.

April yawned as she walked into the kitchen that morning, finding herself to be the third person who had ventured into the room that morning. She saw Donnie seated at the table reading the morning news paper as Mikey hummed happily as he stood at the stove, cooking breakfast.

It was this simple everyday scene that prompted her to ask her question once she had sat down beside the brainy turtle.

"Donnie," She called out slowly, making sure that he was listening to her before she continued with what she was about to say. The said turtle looked up from his paper questioningly.

"Yes April?" He said giving her his attention.

"Why is it that every morning that I come down stairs it's always Mikey slaving away at the stove? Why don't you guys ever help him out?" She asked righteously.

"That's simple really; Mikey's the best cook in the family." Don said with a casual shrug.

"Are you kidding me?" Mikey cried out, looking over to his immediate older brother jadedly.

"That's the best answer you could give her? You didn't even explain why I'm the best at cooking or anything." Mikey whined.

Don gave his little brother a slightly irate look before sighing.

"April doesn't want to hear about all that rubbish." He dismissed it simply.

"More like ya don' want ta tell her how much ya suck at cooking." Raph's sleepy voice said came from behind them as he slowly staggered into the kitchen looking like he was still half asleep.

Don shot him an embarrassed glare and purposely looked away from everyone in the room as Mikey smirked wickedly.

"Oh yes, Donnie do tell April all about us and our cooking experiences." He giggled happily.

With a huff Don turned back to April and seemed to draw himself up slightly before he began talking.

"Each of us has varying degrees of usefulness when it comes to working in the kitchen. Mikey, as I told you is the best when it comes to cooking something that's actually edible. Raph, surprisingly, is also pretty good, but his temper usually results in more smashed plates than food." Don said with an air of reluctance.

Silence went around the room as April waited for him to continue, Raph drank juice out of the carton at the fridge and Mikey continued with the stove.

"What about you Donnie, surely with all those chemicals you make up cooking should be a snap for you?" April asked with a smile. Donnie on the other hand looked sheepish and ducked his head.

"Are ya kidden' me? Unless ya wanna live off'a charcoal-enriched diet I wouldn' suggest eatin' anything that Don came up with." Raph laughed from the fridge, earning himself a cold glare from his younger brother who was turning an interesting shade of greeny-red as April turned surprised eyes to him.

"Really?"

"I just can't seem to get the food to do what I want it to do." Don finally said with an embarrassed and slightly weary sigh as he shook his head.

"Don't worry Don, I'm sure there's something you can cook." April said with an up-beat voice and a warm smile.

"Well… I can do sandwiches I suppose." Don said, a slightly thoughtful look on his face.

"So Mikey and Raph can cook pretty well and Don, you make nice sandwiches, but what about Leo. I would have thought he would have been the best at it with his perfection driven nature and everything." April said innocently, though as soon as the words had left her mouth the other three in the room stiffened and Donnie even looked slightly greener than normal.

As the silence stretched out between them April could almost feel the tension filling the air. It was Don who finally cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Leo… well let's just say that Leo's many things, but a cook will never be on his list of accomplishments." Don said in a slightly strained voice.

"What do you mean, isn't Leo very good?" April questioned, curious at the extreme reaction to such a simple and innocent question.

"Leo…" Mikey gulped and looked around cautiously. "Last time Leo was allowed to cook, it wasn't pretty." He said in a quiet voice.

"Are ya kidding, he almost fricken' burnt the place down and poisoned us for two weeks!" Raph growled.

"I have nightmares about that day" The youngest shuddered.

"Come on guys, he can't be that bad." April tried to reason, positive that the three were just over reacting.

"You weren't there, it really was horrible. It's like, as brilliant at ninjitsu as Leo is, he's the complete opposite in the kitchen; nothing goes right when he tries to cook something. He can't even make a sandwich without something going wrong!" Don cried out, disbelief at his siblings' odd failure evident in his voice.

April gave them a blank look as she realized that they weren't making it up, they were seriously telling her that their eldest brother was absolutely hopeless in the kitchen.

"Why do you think he never does anything in here? It's not on his part that the chores are arranged like they are, we did it so that there was no chance of him accidentally killing one of us." Mikey said as Raph and Donnie nodded in agreement.

"I can't believe he's really that bad." April said looking at them, still slightly disbelieved that he could be so awful.

It was with some thankfulness that Splinter walked into the kitchen at that moment and April saw her way of getting to the bottom of the stories the three boys were telling her.

"Master Splinter, good morning." She smiled at the aged rat.

"Good morning Miss O'Neal." He said pleasantly as he approached the kettle.

"I was wondering, the boys have been talking to be about their culinary skills this morning. They mentioned that Leo wasn't that good, which surprised me. I just wanted to hear your opinion about his cooking skills." April said and patiently waited as the rat seemed to stand with his back to her for an unusually long amount of time. Finally he turned to her and, in an emotionless voice answered her.

"Some things we are better off not knowing about and one finds that they cannot be explained in this universe." Was all he said, evidently confirming his sons' low opinion of the eldest in the family.

It was at that moment that the object of their discussion walked into the kitchen having finished his morning training before breakfast. Once in the kitchen he stopped in surprise at the strange silence of everyone as they all looked over to him.

"What?"

Maybe Master Splinter was right, April thought. Some times you were better off just accepting and not thinking about things too much.


	6. 6 Seize the Day

6

6. Seize the day

"Seize the day!" Leo had told him that once, they had been about thirteen and they had just exited from the dojo area of their lair after listening to one of their fathers speeches about the importance of seizing every single day. As usual Leo's eyes had been bright with thoughts tumbling around in his head as he tried to work out the best way in which he could seize the day each day.

His three younger brothers had laughed at him, like they normally did and then proceeded to ignore him as he went on about it, talking to himself about how he could do such a thing.

At the time, they had no idea how such a simple statement was going to influence their eldest brothers' life for years to come. In fact, not one of the three brothers had thought of it again as it was never brought up again by Splinter or Leo. It probably wouldn't have ever been brought up again if not for Leo - what happened one fateful night that had left Leo in a bleeding heap on a roof top, having fulfilled his role as the eldest in taking the hits that had been intended for his younger brothers.

Even as Raph and Mikey had disposed of the remaining threats in the area and Don had rushed over to Leo to try and help him, the feeling of inevitable doom had weighed heavily on their hearts.

As Don had tried uselessly to stop the bleeding from the numerous bullet holes now in his brothers body, Leo had gently clasped his hands in his own and held on with the little strength that he still had left. There had been an accepting smile on his face as he looked at his younger brother as Mikey and Raph rushed over, falling to their knees beside their fallen leader.

The life sustaining blood of their eldest brother was everywhere and Donnie had found himself unable to move as Leo held his hands, no matter how much Mikey and Raph were yelling at him to do something.

They had then watched, almost in a grief stricken trance as Leo had slowly let go of one of Donnie's hands and reached for his sword strap that went across his now bloody chest. With shaking fingers he had managed to pull what appeared to be a scrap of folded paper from underneath it. With his failing strength he had held it out to his three little brothers, his eyes pleading with them to take it.

It had been Mikey who had taken the still warm paper from Leo and opened it, his own hands shaking with an over load of emotion as his eyes widened at what he saw.

It wasn't a piece of paper after all; it was a picture of their family. There were all four of the turtles, Splinter, April and Casey, all smiling as they surrounded the couch in the middle of the lair. Yet it was the words scrawled across the bottom of the picture in Leo's handwriting that had caused the true magnitude of the situation to fall on Mikey.

"Seize the day"

As tears began to fall the three younger brothers suddenly felt like they had never been closer to their eldest brother than they were at that moment. It left a bitter taste in their mouths and a burning in the backs of their throats to think that they finally understood their perfection driven brother at last and now they were going to sit and watch as he died before them. Seize the day had always meant love, protect and cherish your family to Leo.

"Leo, please, there has ta be somethin' we can do ta help ya." Raph rasped out, sounding unusually young.

Leo looked up at him and smiled the big brother smile that had warmed the darkest and coldest nights for them for so many years. As he slowly opened his mouth blood pooled at the corner and slid down, his voice wavered slightly as he began losing the fight with consciousness.

"Seize… the… day…"

As the words left his lips his eyes slowly closed, blocking them of the honey brown colour that had always been a reassuring presence in their lives. Donnie felt the already tentative grip on his hand weaken even more before it fell away completely and that's when they all knew it… he was gone.

The grief overwhelmed them and they collapsed on their brothers' bloody body, not caring about anything other than the fact that they had just lost one of the most important people in their lives.

Despite their doubts the rest of the world had continued as if nothing had happened. While the lair had become slightly quieter now that there was no continuous training in the dojo with swords, nor any arguments between the two eldest, or sandwiches being made for the braniac of the family or movie marathons of their 'band of brothers' DVD collection with the youngest, the turtles too found that life didn't stop just because one of them had fallen.

They had each found their own way of dealing with the loss of the eldest son. Master Splinter had planted a bonsai tree that he kept in the living room for everyone to see as though it was the most spectacular one in existence. Mikey had started a comic book story where the hero was a teenage mutant turtle who looked after his family of three younger brothers, had a rat as a father and two human friends who had been adopted into the odd little family. Donnie had thrown himself into his different projects for the first month before he emerged one day and simply told his family he loved them and now spent quite a bit of time with them instead of his inventions.

However it had been Raph's reaction that had surprised everyone. It was almost three months exactly after Leo had passed and Raph had been very quiet for this time. He would sit for hours on end, just staring into space, as though trying to solve some big puzzle. It had shocked his family one night when they had awoken to the sounds of banging hammers and saws. When they had ventured out to find out what had woken them they had found Raph putting shelves on the main wall in the lair, the one everyone saw without fail. They had ignored it that night, believing that this was Raph finally cracking under all the emotions that has been plaguing him since his only big brothers' death.

It had surprised them that morning when they had ventured into the relative silence of the lair to find that Raph had finished his little project for the night. Upon the previously bare wall was now two sword holders that housed what had been the blue banded turtles katana, also his mask had been carefully hung up and the table with the bonsai tree had been moved under the display. However it was what Raph had hung in the middle of every thing that caught their attention. A photo frame had been placed there, a picture of happier days encased within it. In a familiar scrawl was the words 'Seize the day' and in one of the corners was what they knew was a blood stain.

Without a word the red banded turtle had picked up the tools he had used that night and walked calmly past his remaining family, his father smiling softly at his retreating form as the two youngest cried both out of pain and happiness.

"Seize the day." Leo had told him that once. Now it was time for them to really do so.


	7. 7 Opposite

Hello everyone. I'm so sorry this has taken so long!

I'm really not at all happy with this one, it seems rather boring and disjointed. However I wanted to continue so thus, this was posted. If anyone has any better ideas for the prompt word 'opposite', then PLEASE send me a PM or review suggesting them. I'm very eager to rewrite this one.

Normal disclaimer.

Delzy

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7. Opposite

April had often wondered, in the wee hours of the morning when she found sleep to be elusive, how it was that the four turtle brothers got along at all; what with their personalities clashing left right and centre it was truly a wonder that they managed at all.

Leo and Raph were obviously the most opposite amongst the four of them. With Raph's philosophies of hit first then ask questions and Leo's ideals of everything needing to be in balance it was little wonder that the two where often fighting with one another. Raph believed that the way to protect his family was the eliminate those that would threaten them while Leo believed that a warning or negotiating with people was the way to go about the families safety. It was a wonder the two got anything done the way they went about things.

Don and Mikey often found one another boring as Mikey enjoyed fictional characters performing impossible feats and Donnie liked the science and extended formulas of the world. They often squabbled over the TV remote as Don wanted to watch something educational and Mikey wanted something with super heroes.

Then there was Leo and Donnie who, on first glance, seemed to get along the best until certain subjects were brought up and suddenly tempers would flare. While Leo believed that they best way to protect the family was through personally doing so, Donnie liked the idea of using his gadgets to achieve the same out come.

Leo and Mikey seemed to merely have a tolerance for one another than an actual friendship. While Mikey was content to waste away the day sitting on his backside in front of a screen, Leo believed in doing something constructive each day.

Raph and Donnie didn't get along much better; only when it came to working on the transportation for the family did they speak much at all. Otherwise Raph found Donnie's naturally passive nature to be irritating while Donnie didn't agree with Raph's own aggressive nature.

Raph and Mikey didn't get along for the single reason that Mikey's favorite past time happened to be annoying Raph. It was obvious that the two couldn't stand being in the same room for an hour without at least one of them making a remark to the other that would likely set off Raph.

April supposed that if they hadn't of been so different she wouldn't love them so much. But more importantly they wouldn't love each other so much. It still never ceased to amaze her that they could stand to live with each other some times though.

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Please review!


	8. 12 Children

As I've been having some trouble with a few of the prompts as they just don't sound right yet, I've decided to just post ones I've completed and not worry about then being in number order. It wasn't all that important as for the most part stories aren't related to a timeline. Only specified ones are and I'm pretty sure there'll only be two of them.

Anyway, sorry for it having been such a long time!

Disclaimer: turtles are not mind.

Delzy

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12. Children

Despite popular belief Mikey wasn't as oblivious to the problems posed to himself and his family when it came to the fact that they were mutant creatures. He knew that, because of what they were, they would never been accepted by society, only a few would accept them and for these people Mikey was grateful.

However it wasn't just society that posed a problem, there was also another fact that Mikey was acutely aware of. A fact that, once he was old enough to understand, had haunted him for his every waking moment and sometimes even made itself into his dreams at night. That fact was that he was one of four creatures that were completely alone in the world. There had never been nor would their ever be another like his brothers and himself. When he thought of what Master Splinter must feel like sometimes, being the only giant talking rat on earth, it made him feel almost physically ill.

With his brothers' and him being what they were it meant that they could never have any children and for that Mikey was sad.

Often when he looked at his brothers he saw such wonderful candidates for fatherhood. He knew that Raph would probably be the most protective of the four of them, rarely letting any kid out of his sight. He could see Raph and his kids getting into all kinds of arguments as they rebelled against him just like he did to Splinter, it would be a taste of his own medicine.

Then there would be Leo always worrying about what the hatchlings were doing, though trying to give them enough space for them to grow and find their own paths with just a little bit of his guidance. Mikey could already picture that Raph and Leo's kids would either be best friends or worst enemies. However he liked to think they'd be great friends and would team up together and worry their fathers like crazy.

Donnie would be a great father too as he'd always have the latest games and electronic gadgets for his kids to play with. Don would probably not really worry about his kid wondering off has they'd already have the latest tracking devices on them. They would probably also be child geniuses just like their dad and would have the same absent mindedness that often plagued Don when he became distracted.

Looking at himself Mikey saw him as being the cool uncle and even cooler dad. All the kids would love him as he'd be up-to-date with all the new games and he could play against them and they could try to beat his best scores. Then there was the fact that he could cook really well and they could all stay up late watching TV and eating junk food.

A wistful smile adorned his lips as he sat at his cluttered desk, imagining not for the first or the last time what life would be like if they were able to have kids. It would be an incredible experience.

Though none of his brothers' ever said anything, Mikey knew that they also often caught themselves thinking about what it would be like. Especially now that April was going to become a mum herself. That fact alone just made their situations in life a little bit more painful.

Mikey supposed that they were all just going to have to deal with being uncles to April and Casey's children. It was the closest they would ever come to having that kind of family so they would have to dote on their friends' child extensively.

Mikey decided that being a teenage mutant MALE ninja turtle really sucked at times.

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	9. 14 Chess

14. Chess

Heaving a sigh Donatello pushed his magnified glasses up on top of his head as he stared dismally at his invention that just didn't seem to be working for him today. Giving it one last evil look he let his eyes begin to wander around his lab at all the odds and ends that he had accumulated over the years. Nothing seemed to strike his fancy until he noticed a small chess set off to one corner, tucked under a stack of papers that held the many designs of inventions he had yet to make real.

A soft smile tugged at the corner of his lips as fond memories suddenly flooded his mind, erasing his frustrations about the invention that just wouldn't work. Whenever he pulled out that chess board it was like a magnet to Leo; no matter what his elder brother had been doing at the time he would stop and come and play a game or two with him.

It was always Leo who played with him when they were younger as well. In fact it was Donnie himself who had taught his big brother how to play in the first place. When they were about five Master Splinter had come home a week after their birthday and presented the surprisingly complete chess set to his sons. Mikey and Raph had demanded to play with it first, both wanting to gauge the interest of the game before their remaining two brothers could even get a good look in.

The end result had been a furious Raph claiming the game had too many rules to be fun and an almost twitching Mikey who found himself unable to sit still long enough to get any entertainment from it. Both had ditched the game and deemed it boring and uncool to play. Donnie had then had a look at the game and Master Splinter had taught him the rules over the course of two weeks. However due to his father always being busy he never had the time to play with him. Though it hadn't really bothered him that much, he played lots of games by himself anyway.

Due to his brothers' obvious lack of interest in the game it had been a surprise one day when he had been playing quietly by himself, Raph and Mikey were both in trouble for fighting and as such were currently confined to a corner each, when his eldest brother had wandered over to him.

"Hey ya Donnie, what ch'ya doin'?" Leo had asked; his arms clasped behind his shell and his honey brown eyes curious.

Donnie had been so surprised by his brothers' interest he had just stared at him for a moment before blushing shyly and quietly saying he was playing chess. Leo had looked at him in with a completely confused look on his face, his head tilting slightly to the right. What had happened next had surprised Don, but looking back now it was just such a 'Leo' thing to do.

"Can ya teach me to play with you?" He has asked with an almost shy tone in his voice.

That moment had really cemented Don's adoration of his eldest brother. There was nothing wrong with his two other brothers', it was just something about Leo that made Donnie really look up to him after that. It had also caused him to become a lot closer to his brother who had encouraged and helped him grow out of the painfully shy turtle he had been.

It had taken Leo much longer to learn how to play chess than it had taken Donnie, but neither had seemed to mind. They had spent the better part of that day talking and laughing as they attempted to play the game. Don had even had the slight fear of Leo never playing with him again, but that had been pushed away when Don had pulled out the chess set again a few days later and Leo had come over to him, asking jokingly if he would like to 'kick his shell' again.

Don was knocked out of his musings by the sound of knocking at his lab door and, turning around he saw the very turtle of his thoughts standing there with two plates of sandwiches in his hands.

"Want some lunch?" He asked with a smile and holding up the plate obviously.

"Depends, did you make them?" Donnie asked playfully. Rolling his eyes and ignoring the question, knowing he was useless in the kitchen (he burnt water – how pathetic), Leo moved into the room and, after a moment searching for some free space to put the plate down on, settled on just handing Don his plate and then sitting down and resting his own plate on his lap.

"So," he asked taking a bite, "What ch'ya up to Donnie?" Leo asked casually.

"I was working on a device to remove the problem of physical terrain when we're topside." He said with a sigh as he picked up his own sandwich and took a bite, glancing up at Leo as he did so and struggling to contain a smile at the look he received.

In that moment it was like he was five-years-old once again and he had just said he was playing chess to him again. Leo looked at him with a completely confused face and his head subconsciously tilted to the right.

"And that would be what exactly…?" He asked slowly. Donnie just laughed.

"Never mind about that now… what would you say to a game of chess?" He asked and smiled at the smirk appearing on his brothers' face.

"Alright, but I'm going to win this time." Leo said, knowing full well that he wouldn't as he had never been able to out smart his genius younger brother.

"Sure Leo, whatever you say."

Leo's tone of voice may have lost its shyness but the comfort he provided hadn't left. It was times like this that Donnie remembered just why Leo was the best big brother ever.


	10. 15 Duty

15. Duty

It was his duty, ever since he could remember; it was he who the dreaded task befell to should anything happen to them. He was the one who would have to face the consequences for something he hadn't done. It was he who the task of protection befell to.

***

It had started as a panicked feeling in his gut when the full extent of the situation was realized. The day had been a sunny and bright one; nothing had gone wrong until the afternoon. His brothers and he had been topside, on one of their regular rooftops when, he was ashamed to admit, it had been he who had initiated the fight between turtles. He just couldn't keep his mouth shut for one day, could he?

Leo had suggested that they think about turning in, but he had wanted to stay out longer, maybe find some punks that they could beat up when they did something wrong. Leo had just wanted to go home, but Don and Mikey had sided with him. They wanted to stay out longer too, just to enjoy the fresh air.

Raph being himself couldn't stop challenging his oldest brother. Leo had finally left without them, telling them that he didn't care if they got into trouble. Everyone knew it was a lie and he had only said it as he was upset with them all, Raph in particular for completely ignoring his request. Raph himself has said some pretty nasty things to Leo, words that he never wanted to repeat for the shame.

Mikey and Donnie had questioned whether they should go home once Leo left, but Raph'd just snorted and told them that Leo had just said he didn't care anymore, so why not stay out until Leo came searching for them like they all knew he would.

It was never meant to have ended up like this, they were never meant to have taken on that small gang that ended up being nothing short of fifty foot soldiers. They weren't supposed to have been captured and chained to the walls in Saki's building while he had stood there, gloating about his assured victory and telling them all about how he had sent off a message to their older brother, telling him to surrender or he would kill the younger three.

Leo was never meant to have been allowed entrance to the building and shown where to find Saki. Leonardo wasn't supposed to have come by himself, like the note had said to. He was never supposed to stand at the entrance to the room where they were chained, Saki being all that separated the brothers from one other.

Raph had watched in horror as his big brother removed the swords from his back and placed them on the ground, watched as he seemed to remove a part of himself and offer what was left to the sadistic alien between them. Saki had laughed as Mikey and Don had yelled for Leo to not surrender, laughed as their pleas were ignored by the eldest turtle who stood proud and tall, completely defenseless before his greatest enemy. The biggest threat to his family.

The feeling of panic waned away to numbness as the magnitude of the situation settled in his heart, making it heavy. There was nothing they could do for their brother, he was sealing his own fate, doing his duty as the eldest and the protector of the family; being the big brother he had always strived to be.

The feeling of chain on his arms and wrists was removed as the Foot soldiers came forward and removed the iron casings from the younger three, only to clamp them on the eldest who stood still and allowed them to do so.

Raph barely noticed as his two little brothers cried out for Leo as the Foot restrained them, hovering around him as though waiting for him to make a break for it at any moment.

Yet Leo still hadn't looked at his baby brothers, his eyes trained ahead on the figure of Saki as he stood in smug satisfaction at the events unfolding.

They were never supposed to be pulled to the exit of the room, Leo still standing there, tall and proud, but alone…

It was just as the doors were about to close that Leo finally looked over to the three most important beings in his life and a small smile lifted the corners of his lips. His eyes sad, but accepting. A feeling of anger slowly welled up inside of Raph and all he could be sure of in that moment was that he truly despised his brother.

The doors shut and not a moment later the loud bang of a gun was heard followed by a muffled thump and then silence. Mikey and Donnie stood still for a moment before falling weekly to their knees, heart wrenching sobs spilling from their lips as reality settled in. The shield from truth that Leo had always provided for them was now gone, forcefully snatched from them as they wept. Raph, however, found nothing in him that was crying out for tears. He couldn't feel enough within himself to weep for the sudden loss of his only older brother.

As the remaining turtles were chucked out of the building Raph found himself still dry eyed and despising his brother. He should have screwed duty, who cares about that when you're dead? Leo should never have come alone; he had sealed his own fate.

Stumbling slightly he helped the younger two to their home, neither seeming to be able to stand up properly due to their sobs and wails of loss. As they entered the lair they almost ran into Splinter, April and Casey who had been heading for the exit. Relief had flooded their features at the sight of the turtles, only to be followed by horror as they counted only three of the four sons.

Without needing to say anything Raph knew they understood what had happened.

"There's no way?" April had whispered brokenly as tears began to cloud her normally bright eyes.

Raph just shook his head as he helped the younger two to the couch where they fell upon it, still in tears.

As Raph stood there, in what was normally a comforting room, underground with those who accepted him and normally brought such joy, all he felt was the bitterness swelling in him, both at himself and his now dead brother. He would never be able to talk to Leo again now, never listen to another of his lectures about coming home late, never spar against him in the dojo or laugh with him when their younger brothers did something stupid. Now it was him as the eldest brother.

He didn't want to apologize to his brother for not listening to him, for getting them landed in this mess in the first place. Not even for the fact that he was practically responsible for his death. He only felt that feeling of despising his brother settle more firmly in his heart as it seemed to grow even heavier.

As he stood in the room full of mourning and tearful creatures, he didn't feel the wetness form in his eyes, nor the small lone tear that slipped from his left eye. Despising his brother was more firmly ingrained in his mind now.

Leo's duty to his family was what had killed him… well Raph would make sure that never happened to anyone else in his family.

Duty be damned.


	11. 16 Rip

16. Rip

Donatello was the second youngest in the family of four turtles. As such he didn't feel the need to act like a fool for attention like the youngest did, nor did he feel like he needed to constantly train to improve like the eldest did. He also never suffered feelings of inadequacy like the second eldest did so again felt no instinct of his telling him to contend with his eldest brother.

Donnie was very calm and placid, he didn't care for high stress situations or fighting and he only trained as it was something his father wished for him to participate in. It wasn't that he didn't like his bow staff, because he did and he enjoyed sparring with his brothers, it was the prospect of seriously hurting people with his weapon that caused him discomfort.

It was little wonder that the ever increasing arguments between his two eldest brothers caused him great pain. It wasn't a physical hurt as he couldn't remember the last time, if ever, that the two had intentionally hurt him, it was more of a ripping feeling in his heart each time hurtful words were carelessly tossed between the two.

He hated seeing the almost hidden wince Raph would make every time Leo would say something that was an exaggeration of the truth in order to try and 'shock him out of his stupid behavior' as Leo had once put it. He also hated seeing the flashes of pain in Leo's eyes when Raph was pushed too far over the edge and would simply turn around and tell him that he hated him. Everyone knew that it was a lie, but that didn't stop Leo from being stung by the words.

The arguments were slowly getting worse and becoming more frequent between the two brothers', this mornings argument about, of all stupid things, who ate the last of the cereal. The worst part was that everyone knew Raph had picked this argument as it was a known fact that Leo didn't even like cereal of any kind so it was impossible for him to have eaten it.

Raph had still accused him of it and Leo had immediately been on the defense, stating quite simply that he didn't eat Raph's rubbish cardboard and that his brother should shut up unless he knew what he was talking about. This had in turn raised Raph's hackles and caused him to yell back that Leo was an idiot who wouldn't know good food if it smacked him in the face.

To say the least the argument had progressed from there and had only ended when Raph's bowl shattered on the wall next to Leo's head and Master Splinter had come into the room to defuse the situation.

Raph had stormed off topside and left Leo to explain what had happened, to which he had simply said it was a misunderstanding and had walked off to the dojo to train. Mikey and Don had been sitting at the kitchen table throughout the whole of the argument but no one seemed to have noticed them, indeed even their father hadn't spared them a glance before turning and leaving the room, no doubt back to his own quarters to meditate on the situation with his two eldest. Mikey had sighed before leaving as well, muttering 'so much for a family breakfast' as he went. No doubt he was headed back to the couch where he could focus on his games and cartoons instead of a family falling apart.

Donnie remained seated at the table; his eggs that Mikey had gotten up early especially to make for breakfast were now cold as he just stared at them. Not moving, as if physical motion would cause his already tattered heart to rip some more.

After twenty-five minutes of sitting there alone he slowly reached up with one hand and rested it over where his heart was located in his chest. He was a doctor and as such knew for a fact that his heart wasn't really in tatters, but that didn't stop his emotional pain telling him that it was.

Closing his eyes he wished for the 100th time that his family would be whole once more and that his brothers' would wake up to the fact that his heart was tearing up inside him each time they argued.

He didn't know how much wear and tear his heart could take before it was completely destroyed. He just hoped they would realize before it came to that…


	12. 17 Missing Time

17. Missing time

A grudge was an awful thing to bear. It consumed you and twisted your better judgment into something that suited itself, not necessarily you. Of this Mikey was 100% sure. As the aged turtle stood in his small kitchen-dining room he stared at a picture he hadn't looked at for 30 years.

"Thirty years… has it really been so long?" He asked his silent room, not really expecting a response. Shaky fingers reached out and gently traced the faces of the three turtles that stood beside a much younger version of him in the picture. It had been thirty years since he had last spoken to his brothers' and father, thirty years full of hurt and guilt.

He couldn't even remember why it was that he had left the lair in the first place. He knew it had something to do with a massive fight amongst them, something to do with priority and over protectiveness. He sighed angrily as the reason behind it still eluded him.

The night he had left was blurry as well, though he could remember Donnie pleading with him to stay and think things through, it was the first time in a long while that he had seen his immediate older brother cry. Raph had responded with anger, yelling at him and saying that he was abandoning his family and, if this was what he really wanted, to stay the hell away from them. Splinter had simply watch silently from the sidelines, having already tried to talk him out of leaving and now accepted that there was nothing he could do to stop what was happening. Lastly, it was Leo's reaction that had caused him the most confusion. His eldest brother had looked at him with sad eyes and simply wished him luck, that there would always be a place here for him if he choose to return. At the time Mikey had sneered that he'd never want to return, but looking back now he suddenly felt a deep urge to return home to his brothers.

"I miss you guys."

Deciding he packed what little he cared for, a few photos and some letters he had received from April over the years before he turned and left what had been his home all these years. He traveled quickly and silently over the rooftops, enjoying the feeling of the cool night air hitting his face, before he dropped into the sewers and headed for home. It wasn't until he got to the entrance of the lair when he discovered he might have a problem with getting inside. Deciding to take a chance he keyed in the old code and was surprised when the wall began moving aside for him.

When he entered the lair he was slightly surprised at what he found. The place looked very similar to how it used to, nothing major seemed to have changed over the last thirty years. The furniture was still in the same spots as it had once been and as he looked around he noticed that it still looked slightly messy, just how it always had. Only… there was something very wrong with this picture. Upon everything there was a light layer of dust, as though no one had disturbed it in a long time. Also, where were his brothers'? This was a house full of ninja's; he shouldn't have been able to walk in here without at least one of his family members coming out to see who had entered. Leo would have surely have come and had a look at what was going on, he always had before.

Mikey was just about to investigate further into the lair when the other set of doors to the lair opened, causing him to tense as it might be one of his brothers'. Surprisingly it was April who cautiously entered the lair, eyes looking around before locking on him and widening in shock.

"Mikey?" She called out, seemingly not believing her eyes.

"Hey April, long time no see." He tried to joke lightly, but he was distracted by how old April looked now. He knew he looked older, but April was so noticeably different.

"Mikey! It's so good to see you home again." She said, walking over to him quickly and enveloping him in a tight hug.

"It's nice to be home." He said, a little awkwardly, unused to someone hugging him. When she finally let go he was surprised to find she had tears in her eyes.

"Oh Mikey, you're home and…" Whipping her tears she started digging around in her handbag that he just now noticed, sniffing occasionally as she did so.

"Here…" She handed him a small microchip, brown eyes seeming almost sad. "Donnie asked me to give it to you if you ever came home."

"Donnie… how is he? How're all my brothers', I had thought they would all be here." He asked, a slight smile tugging at his lips. April bit her lip and gently pushed him over to what had been the family computer.

"Have a look at this before you ask me anything, I'll go and see if there's anything worth drinking in the kitchen." With that she turned and walked away, leaving Mikey to his task.

Curious at her behavior and what might be on this chip he turned the computer on and inserted the chip correctly. A single folder came up and he clicked on it, surprised when an image of his brothers' room came onto the screen, then he felt shock over the sight of a much older Donatello as he sat down in his chair before where the camera must have been filming.

"Hello Michealangelo." He said softly, even his voice sounded different, it was deeper and almost… tired.

"If you're watching this it means you've finally come home, we always knew you would one day. You loved us too much to stay away forever. Perhaps a little vanity on our side for thinking that, but if you're watching this then it would have been justified." A weary smile adorned his lips and for a moment Don looked like he was reminiscing on a fond memory before he shook his head slightly and sat up a little straighter.

"I don't suppose you'll have any idea what's happened over the last, well right now twenty-eight years, do you? Well even if you do I'll quickly remind you.

Two years after you left Splinter became really sick, we did all we could but," he shook his head sadly, "father was just too old to get better and died shortly after. We buried him at Casey's farm house. We figured he'd like the peace and quiet that place held so we didn't feel too bad about not taking him back to Japan."

Mikey felt sick as he listened, his father had been dead for twenty-eight years and he had never known? Sure he knew that his father must have died in his time away, but it had been such a long time ago that he had passed.

"Unsurprisingly it was Leo who went next. Although he never actually said anything, I don't think he ever really got over you leaving us. You know how easily Leo takes all the guilt for things he can do nothing about. It probably didn't help that a week after you went Raph got into a massive argument with Leo, blamed him for you going I think. Raph believed that it was Leo's responsibility to keep the family together and, as you'd left, he's obviously failed on that count. Leo and Raph didn't speak for twelve years after their argument, an exception was when father died, but that was all. They only spoke again because Leo took a bullet for Raph."

Mikey suddenly had a sense of anger towards his eldest brother, why was he always trying to protect them?

"Raph held him as he died in an allyway, I didn't know what had happened until Raph came home carrying Leo's body…" Don paused for a moment, seeming to collect himself.

"I never got to say goodbye to him… But Raph told me what happened; it was the second time I've ever seen him cry. Leo told Raph about his journal under his bed, I'll leave it on the kitchen table for you along with Raph's and mine, so unless anyone has been to the lair recently it should still be there." Don said, holding up three tattered looking books, one blue, one red and one purple.

Mikey was surprised; he didn't even know any of his brothers' had ever kept a journal.

"Raph died fourteen years ago now; can you believe that our toughest brother was killed in a hit and run? Stupid isn't it. We were on a light training run, we couldn't do all that much anymore with just the two of us, and without Master Splinter or Leo here we had no one to really train us. So we just sort of went on the occasional run together. Sometimes when we were on top of the really tall buildings and the wind would blow so hard you'd almost lose your footing, I'd close my eyes and I could almost pretend that we were all there, that we were still young and careless and together." Donnie laughed humorlessly. "Sad isn't it. I told Raph once, he just looked at me as if I was insane before turning and heading for his room, though before he entered he told me quietly that he did the same thing from time to time."

Mikey felt his heart constrict as tears leaked from his eyes. It was such a strange thing for his brother to do, admit something like that.

"I buried Raph next to Leo and Splinter at the farm house. So after just thirty-seven years this is what our fantastic team is reduced to. A dead father and the oldest two dead, the youngest doesn't talk to his family any more and I'm here, slowly dying myself. I've got cancer." Don said softly, head bowing for a moment before he looked up at the camera with a strained smile and his eyes closed, hiding away the pain.

"It's ok though, so don't feel sad for me Mikey. I'm going to see everyone else soon, so then we'll just be waiting for you to come home to us, but don't hurry!" Donnie added hastily. "It's important that you enjoy life while you can and I'm sure April, Casey and their kids will keep you company." Don smiled softly at the camera as if he could really see his teary little brother watching him.

"Don't worry Mikey, your time will come to return to us and when you do, be assured, we've already forgiven you little brother." Don laughed before lifting his hand in a silent wave and looking deep into the camera lens and at Mikey.

"This is just goodbye until we meet again… I love you." With that the picture died and Mikey was left staring at a blank computer screen.

After a few minutes of trying to compose himself; Mikey looked once more around the lair that had been deserted for years now. It made so much more sense now, the dust and lack of resistance getting in, everything. Slowly getting to his feet he moved into the kitchen where April was seated drinking a hot cup of tea. Sitting down heavily at the table the two sat in silence for a while before April broke it.

"Donnie never changed the code once you left; he always said that you might think they didn't want you to come home if you couldn't even get in the front door." She said softly blowing on her tea to cool it down.

"When did… when did he die?" Mikey asked shakily.

"About 18 months ago now, just a little while after he gave me that chip" Again silence stretched out between them.

"They never blamed you for leaving, you know… they used to tell my children all sorts of stories about you when they were younger, especially Donnie. Although they've never met you, I'm sure they would love to now, my eldest had a little girl three years ago, I'm sure she'd love to hear about you and your brothers, she was too young to really appreciate anything Don said to her and he got tired fairly quickly anyway." April stopped, realizing that she was babbling.

Mikey just nodded absent mindedly as his eyes fell on the three books Don had talked about, sitting on the table off to the side slightly, just like he had been told they would be.

"You are going to stay… aren't you Mikey?" April cut into his thoughts, her question hesitant as she looked at him hopefully.

"Yeah, for now I'll stay." He smiled slightly, his heart a little lighter at her words, knowing he was still wanted at least somewhere.

"I'm so happy…" April continued, but Mikey tuned her out. His thoughts focusing on his family that he would one day see again. With a small smile he reminded himself to give them all a massive hug and an apology; he believed it was about time that he made up for thirty years of stupidity.


	13. 18 Crest

18. Crest

It was in the darkest hours of night when they surfaced. Silently they slipped into the rooms of the inhabitants and stalked their unaware prey. Waiting in the shadows night provided before launching their attack, the victims never standing a chance.

In a room where the floor was covered in a week's worth of dishes and memories of childhood; it hid. It waited impatiently for its victim in faded orange sheets to turn slightly in his sleep so that it could attack. It only waited a few moments before he moved and it eagerly descended. What had been pleasant dreams turned foul as images and thoughts assaulted him, waking him from the dream world and into one that was surrounded in darkness and an almost overwhelming feeling of anguish.

A crest of despair settled over his heart unnoticed. Nothing was ok anymore; nothing would ever be ok again.

In a room where computers beeped softly and small bright lights prickled the seamless darkness randomly as monitors slept, it entered. Sticking to the darker parts of the room it edged around the walls and finally made it to the bed with faded purple sheets. Once there it spared a moment to calculate the right way to attack, before it crushed its unaware victim.

Familiar thoughts and feelings shut down and were replaced with fear and helplessness. Like a virus it settled in his mind and woke him, revealing his eyes to the harsh realities of the cruel world in which he lived.

A crest of helplessness settled over his heart unnoticed. No one was there to help him, no one ever would again.

In a room where old exercise equipment was situated randomly and magazines were pushed to the side, it crept. Moving upon silent feet it went directly for the hammock in the corner of the room.

Without pause it hit hard and fast, scattering all calming thoughts and feelings. Fear clutched at his heart as images of death and pain overflowed into his mind. Thoughts of him hurting those he loved seemed to replay like a sadistic move before his mind's eye as his real eyes snapped open in silent horror.

A crest of self loathing settled over his heart unnoticed. He had hurt them; he hadn't been able to keep them safe again.

In a room where everything had its place and the floor was clean, is slithered. Making its silent way to its victim and without conscious thought of its attack until it was over. Once it was close enough it reached out with a deadly strike, designed to take down its prey in one foul kill.

Warmth and pride slipped from his grasp as shame and failure engulfed his mind. Sadness filled him and as his eyes slowly opened; disappointment and self-shame shined within them as he glanced about the room; making sure that there was no one else but him there to see his disappointment.

A crest of failure settled over his heart unnoticed. He had failed them; he had failed them once again.

As the night slowly waned away to the day, the four brothers lay; unaware of the crest each wore upon their hearts. A silent but continuous reminder of their darkest fears and thoughts. It waited until nightfall before it slipped out and tormented their minds like only nightmares could, before disappearing again, to wait for the glorious night when it would once again be set free.


	14. 20 Explode

Yet another prompts to add to the growing list!

Thanks so much to those of you who reviewed!

Disclaimer: characters are not mine.

Enjoy!

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20. Explode

Tonight had been a complete and utter failure, of that Leo was sure. It was the only thought circling around Leo's head as he led his three brothers' home. They, the three behind him, had to be on some kind mission to be as rebellious as possible tonight. They hadn't listened to a single thing he had said and as a result he was walking home with a bullet lodged in his left arm when he had jumped in front of his brothers' when a thug had pulled a gun on them. Of course this wouldn't have been an issue if they had listened to him and not run off blindly into battle.

To put it bluntly, Leonardo was the closest he had been to furious and losing his normally unshakeable control on his emotions. He hadn't felt this unstable since… he couldn't even think of a time he had been this angry. Even that time before he had been sent to Japan, he had more control over his emotions then. He just hoped for everyone's sake that they stayed the hell out of his way tonight as he wasn't sure he would be able to restrain some of the things he'd like to say to them about their behavior.

As it stood the younger three had so far been following him silently and meekly, not having spoken a word since they had heard Leo snap at them that they were going home.

Upon entering the lair Leo didn't even make it to the middle of the room before his father suddenly stood in his way.

"Leonardo, you're bleeding, what happened?" He asked with concern. Leo looked at the aged rat in his eyes and saw the concern.

"It was an accident Master, it's just a bullet." He said calmly, though even he noticed that it sounded strangely calm, not like his normal voice. He was privately proud that he had managed to make it sound like mostly everything was ok and that there was no anger in his voice.

"How did you get shot?" He asked with a slightly disapproved tone to his voice.

Gritting his teeth Leo simply repeated what he had said before, knowing that there was no way, no matter how angry he was, that he would get all three of his brothers' into trouble, though he felt that they fully deserved any punishment they could receive.

"Just an accident Master."

There was a pause where no one moved, no one even seemed to breathe as tension in the room mounted. Finally Splinter let out a sigh and with disappointment clearly showing on his face he turned slightly from his eldest and to his second youngest.

"Donatello, come and fix your brother will you. Leonardo, we will discuss this reckless behavior of yours later."

At his fathers chastising words something in Leo suddenly snapped and his eyes narrowed at his father, pure anger burned in his eyes along with humiliation.

"Reckless behavior?" He snapped, causing Don to freeze where he was as he'd been moving over to Leo. Everyone in the room found their eyes glued to the eldest son due to the sudden uncharacteristic behavior. Splinter, surprisingly, didn't appear particularly fazed by the emotional out burst of his eldest, though years of having to deal with it from his second eldest probably had worn off the harshness.

"Yes, reckless behavior… what else would you like to call it Leonardo, you were shot. I would have thought that after all your years of training you would have been able to prevent such a simple slip up from occurring." He asked, eye brows rising slightly.

Leo felt his hands clench into fists at the subtle mockery that his father was making of him. Often times he wouldn't react to it as he often felt that he deserved it as he had made some kind of mistake, but the thing that had snapped just moments ago seemed to have been the last of his will power when it came to not talking back and taking every verbal hit that befell him.

"If I hadn't of gotten hit then one of the others would probably be dead now!" He growled back to his mentor. Splinters whiskers twitched, never a good sign.

"You are the leader of your team; you should not have had them in a position in which they would be in such a danger." He said back.

"What the hell was I supposed to do then? Watch one of them get killed?" Leo suddenly yelled, causing his brothers to stiffen.

"Leonardo, I am merely saying-"

"I'm tired of you never listening to me when I say something! Will you just accept that I'm not such a perfect son? You're making this all so unfair!" Leo yelled angrily.

Silence greeted these words as everyone stood in shock at what the eldest turtle had just shouted. There was a sudden movement and Splinter took an angry step towards Leo, his ears were laid back furiously and his own eyes were narrowed as he gazed upon his supposedly most dutiful son.

"You are my son Leonardo; you are supposed to be the leader of this team and the eldest. You're acting like a child, you need to grow up and understand that life's not supposed to be fair!" He snapped at the boy, anger clouding his normal judgment as he would normally have never have even mentioned such a thing with his other three sons in the area.

"Acting like a child is the only way I can get you to listen to me!"

"What is it you seem so desperate to tell me that could warrant this childishness?" Splinter asked mockingly.

"I don't know what you're expecting of me, putting me under the pressure of walking in your shoes. Everything I do is just yet another mistake to you. All I want is for you to just accept that this is the best I can do…" Leo said, his voice losing most of its anger and changing to a tired almost exhausted tone.

Silence once again greeted the lair as the two eldest members of the family stared at one another as the three younger ones tried to digest the true magnitude of what they were witnessing.

After about five minutes of stillness Leo suddenly sighed.

"I should have known there would be no way you'd ever understand what I'm trying to tell you." He said; bitterness only shadowed by a disheartened tone. Without another word he turned and, not even sparing a glance towards his brothers' he moved back towards the entrance of the lair.

"Leonardo," Splinter called out, halting his son and causing him to look over his shoulder slightly. "Do not leave the lair." He said in an authorative voice.

"Sometimes… I wonder who it is you're looking at when you turn to me. Who it is that you see? Because, I don't think we've ever been looking at the same person." He whispered out to the still lair before turning and continuing out of the lair; leaving a thunderous silence in his wake.

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	15. 22 Crumble

22. Crumble

Mikey tossed and turned in bed but sleep remained elusive. With a defeated sigh he stared up at the ceiling and he allowed his thoughts to wonder over the last few hours.

'_Today had been… awful.' _

They had been on a training run when they had run into some Purple Dragons. The fight had been a disaster with all four of them getting hurt, Raph the worst. Donnie how had a massive bruise on his right thigh from here he had been hit with a pipe, Leo had a few deep slices in his left arm, Mikey himself had a sprained wrist and Raph had several major cuts on his body along a dislocated left arm.

'_Yeah, tonight had been bad…' _

When they had gotten themselves home Master Splinter hadn't exactly been impressed with them, they had known that. But their Master hadn't said anything to them, he had however requested Leo go and speak with him when he was done making sure his brothers were ok. Mikey may miss a lot that went on between his brothers but even he knew that Leo was in for a major dressing down tonight.

It was probably this thought that was preventing him from sleeping. He hadn't seen Leo since he had made sure all three of them had been well taken care of, but he had been quite distracted. Hell, he had almost left without getting his own wounds treated by Donnie.

Giving up on sleep for now Mikey rolled out of bed, wincing when he accidentally put pressure on his wrist. Deciding that he needed a glass of water or something to take his mind off everything he had just entered the main room of the lair when Splinter's door opened quietly. Blending into the shadows and holding his breath Mikey watched as his elder brother stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him. He paused for a moment, eyes down cast and a strange look on his face, before he moved in the direction of the dojo.

'_He must really be out of it, he didn't even sense me.'_

Waiting a moment until his brother was inside the room and had half shut the door Mikey moved as silently as he possibly could towards the door having totally forgotten about his drink. Creeping up to the door he slowly looked around the corner and into the room, curious as to what his brother would be doing.

Leo stood in the center of the room, swords placed on the far wall along with his blue bandana. Standing there without it, Mikey found his brother suddenly looked so much younger and less sure of everything. It was strange to see him without it on as it was such a part of him. His unmasked eyes were closed and for all intents and purposes he appeared relaxed to the casual observer. But Mikey had grown up with him and could see the slight tensing in his body as he stood there; the ever so subtle twitch of his fingers as if they were begging to be curled into fists.

'_What's he doing?'_

Mikey was beginning to wonder if his brother was just going to stand there for the rest of the night when Leo burst in to a fury of movements, going through kantas faster than Mikey had ever seen anyone do. That was when he realized that they were clumsy and some of them weren't even completed when Leo would move onto the next one.

A sudden hand around his mouth almost caused him to blow his cover but he managed to catch sight of his attacker before he said anything and immediately relaxed before throwing them a glare. Raph removed his hand and just ignored him as he looked into the dojo while Donnie, who was standing slightly behind Raph, just rolled his eyes at their behavior.

Confusion hit Mikey for a moment before he realized that the other two must have been having difficulties sleeping as well. Quiet possibly for the same reason.

Deciding not to push their luck at not being discovered so far Mikey too turned his attention back to Leo who was now looking even clumsier than before.

The three younger brothers' watched at their elder brother started to slow before he just fully stopped and stood there panting softly, eyes now shut tightly. Then they witnessed something that shocked them to their very cores.

Standing there without his mask on caused it to be painfully obvious when a slow trickle of liquid slowly slid out from under one of his eyelids. Surprisingly Leo didn't even move to wipe it away; he just continued to stand there as another tear joined the first one. He then slowly sank down to the floor, head bowed as he silently wept, not allowing a sound to escape other than that of his ragged breathing.

'_Leo…' _

Later on Mikey wouldn't be able to say how long he stood there, watching as his big brother seemed to crumble before him. Watching and knowing there was nothing he could do about it as he wasn't supposed to know in the first place. It was one of the saddest sights he had ever seen. He also knew from the stunned looks of his other two brothers' faces that this was the first time they had ever seen something like this from the eldest.

When Leo slowly climbed to his feet he ran a hand down his face and let out a deep sigh before removing his hand and opening his eyes. The normal bright honey brown of his eyes was a murky browny-black colour and they shone brighter than normal from the tears. Looking at his big brother all Mikey could think was that he looked… tired.

'_Why did you never tell us you were so tired?' _

As Leo moved towards his things the three younger turtles moved away silently, creeping back to their rooms before he knew they had been spying. Mikey knew that although they would think about that moment for a long time to come, they would never speak of it. In the morning Mikey would smile and make breakfast, Donnie would have his morning coffee, Splinter would sip green tea, Raph would be in a grouchy mood and Leo would be in the dojo practicing. It would be like nothing had ever happened, just another day.

Mikey wasn't sure which hurt more, seeing his brother crumble under the pressures of being leader or having seen that and knowing nothing would ever be done about it.

'_Leo…' _


End file.
